


Things They Wont Obtain

by maxsaystowrite



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Minor Character Death, The Suffering Game: Episode Seven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 12:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10360428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxsaystowrite/pseuds/maxsaystowrite
Summary: Magnus can't feel, or taste, feel hunger, or the wind on his back. He can't picture the man who ruined his life. Even his name escapes his memory. But Taako knows his name. And Taako has connections Magnus doesn't.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this before the last update??? But I'm lazy??? And I couldn't think of a summary until like now sooooo have fun.

The red robe implied they might not make it out of this one

  
  


Numbness, only numbness. Normally, walking this far would strain Magnus’ joints. Normally his lungs would be wary, his heart would pound under pressure. But he felt nothing since entering the mannequin. He missed  _ feeling _ , he missed  _ touch _ . Magnus felt phantom touches of his friends, phantom stings of past scars, phantom kisses on his nonexistent lips.

 

There was an aching in his soul, remembering when could kiss his wife. Then fear stripped at his consciousness, and the thought came to his mind.  _ What if I forget what touch feels like? What if I forget what  _ **_her_ ** _ touch feels like? _ He wondered if he was going to go insane without his senses. He wondered if he went insane in life if he’d still be mad afterlife. He’d hate for Julia to see him like that.

 

_ Julia, _ his soul prickled at the thought of her. He missed her, especially now.  _ She’d make an arm pun… Or a wood pun… _

 

_ “Your wood has never been so hard!”  _ he heard her voice say. Magnus felt himself smile. His body didn’t smile.

 

_ I wish I could hear her actual voice. _

 

Her face smiled in his mind’s eye. He missed her smile. His mind wandered to the moment he found her, he didn’t want to think about it, but it’s just where his mind went. Finding her body crushed and bloodied. Anger bubbled where his stomach once was. Magnus cursed someone that day, screaming his name with white hot rage. But in the memory, his name was replaced with static. Something burned into his memory was glossed over, filled in with just enough to tease Magnus. The name was on the tip of his nonexistent tongue. 

 

“No.” Magnus stopped in his tracks, his plans of revenge crumbling around him. “ _ No. _ ”

 

His friends stopped as well, several feet ahead of him, Taako being the closest to him. Taako could see the quivering of the wood, he could  _ feel _ Magnus’ emotions radiating off of him. Magnus always felt too hard.

 

“Ey, Mango, what’s up?” Taako asked as the mannequin body curled in on itself, wooden fingers folding into a fist.

 

Magnus’ scream came from the blank wooden face. It was jarring to watch; Magnus’ voice coming from something so flat and emotionless.

 

“Hey, sport, what’s the matter over there?” Merle called from the front of the pack.

 

There was another blood-curdling scream. Taako stomach twisted, Merle’s heart leapt, and the red robe watched.

 

“I can’t  _ see _ him!”

 

“See who?”

 

Magnus’ figurative heart sank. “I can’t… I can’t see the man who killed Julia… who destroyed Raven’s Roost… I can’t… picture him… How… How am I going to find him?” His voice broke, if he had eyes, he would be crying. “How am I going to make sure Julia didn’t die in vain?”

 

The other three just stared, having no idea what to do, what to say. What do you say to a man whose life was taken away from him? What do you say to him when he can’t remember the man who did it?

 

“We have to keep moving, Magnus.” The red robe said. No one moved. Magnus fell quiet. The tensions in his wooden body loosened, his fingers and arm falling limp. The red robe sighed and outstretched a skeletal hand. Magnus’ body clattered together as he lifted from the ground. The red robe started walking before the other two, Magnus levitating behind him.

 

They passed Taako, a chill scratched down his spine. Magnus, the rock of the group, was now just a shell. Taako’s jaw clenched as he marched after the red robe, suddenly in a hurry to set up camp.

 

When they found their familiar campsite Merle made quick work of a fire and pallets to sleep on. Merle went to sleep immediately, exhausted from the emotional toil of the suffering game. Magnus curled up on the ground,  surprising everyone that he could still sleep. Taako waited to see what the red robe was going to do; liches don't sleep. 

 

The red robe disappeared when he thought they were all asleep. Taako rolled over to no one waiting awake. He pulled himself up and watched the fire crackle. The ghosts of their past hung in the air. Their lives were simpler when they knew nothing about each other when they were just in it for the adventure, maybe fame, maybe glory. They won’t obtain any of that now, and their lives were exposed. Taako remembered Magnus’ eyes the last time they sat around the fire. Taako wondered what kind of loss was behind them.  _ I wish I never found out... _

 

“Kravi, if you're free to talk,  wanna come sit with me for a bit?” Taako whispered into the night. Crickets chirped and the fire snapped. 

 

Taako waited, so long he thought for a moment that Kravitz might not show. Until the spatial plane in front of him tore open, black smoke pouring out. A long leg stepped out first, leading to the most handsome man Taako ever laid eyes on.

 

“Heeeeeeeeey handsome~,” Taako called as Kravitz appeared fully in his plane.

 

There was no double take, but Kravitz did pause,  eyes narrowing, studying Taako. He laughed at the confusion on Kravitz’s face, hiding away his true feelings. 

 

“There's something different about you,  Taako.”

 

“Wonderland gave me a real blow to my ego.”

 

“Wonderland normally doesn't give things away,  I'd say you got lucky.”

 

Taako threw his head back in laughter.  “Thanks, babe. That means a lot.”

 

Kravitz moved to kneel in front of Basil,  studying him. “But really,  what did they take from you?” his hands took hold of Basil’s squeezing them,  letting him know it was safe.  

 

Taako’s smile was sad and soft. “My beauty. I'm now  _ plain _ .”

 

Kravitz’s eyes narrowed even further. “Are you sure?” Taako’s cheeks burned and his heartbeat skipped. “Because you're just as beautiful as you were. I don't understand what they did?”

 

Taako kissed him quickly, then withdrew, a faint pink crept into his cheeks.  _ He's being genuine… he doesn't see a difference… _ Kravitz’s smile lit up his face as he watched Taako’s moment of vulnerability quickly dissolve. Taako’s  unamused facade returned almost instantly.  

 

_ Oh, Taako…  _

 

“So why did you call me here? Besides to show me your beautiful face.”

 

A small grin cracked onto his face. “So you're like a magical people finder, right?”

 

Kravitz’s face twisted. “I have a knowledge of where most beings are no matter which plane they're in,  yes.”

 

“Could you take me to find a certain… Governor?”

 

“Taako…” Kravitz ducked his head, refusing to look at him. “I can’t abuse my power like that, it’s against My Queen  _ and _ I don’t think lady Istus would be too-”

 

“Kravitz, just this once. I just need one magical people finder token. No one else is this important.”

 

Kravitz studied his partner’s face, Taako had adopted wide eyes and a serious frown. They were so foreign to his features Kravitz wondered if  _ this _ was what the liches did to him.

 

“ _ Please, _ Kravitz.”

 

His heart skipped a beat.  _ He said  _ **_please._ **

 

Kravitz’s composure deflated. “ Alright, I’ll take you to him.” Taako’s hand squeezed his own before he pulled one up and scratched at the air with a single finger. A tear appeared at the edge of his crooked finger nail. The inside was iridescent, flashing every color and no color all at once. “Stay close, living creatures can almost never resist the thrall of the ethereal plane.”

 

“Boy do I know it.” 

 

Kravitz wrapped his arm around Taako’s waist and pulled him into the rip. There was only white. Taako couldn’t see anything besides the blinding nothingness. The occasional outline would catch his eye, then fade before he could focus on them. Kravitz was the only solid, the only source of color.

 

When they entered the living plane, they were outside a bar in the middle of the woods. Nothing but the inside was illuminated, the forest around them was dense and reeked of danger.  _ The Dust _ , the sign read. Taako had only heard of it, and the scum that frequented it.  _ It only seems fitting he’d end up here _ .

 

“Where is he in there?” Taako asked, staring at the doors. He took in a deep breath, preparing himself.

 

“He’s at a table with a single candle. All the way in the corner.” Kravitz’s eyes glowed a faint red as he spoke.

 

Taako let out his breath, focusing on his instructions.

 

“One more quickie question, darling,” Taako said, not losing eye contact with the door.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Can you kill this guy for me?”

 

Kravitz gasped. “No! Of course, I can’t! I can’t just pick and chose people to reap!”

 

Taako shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Taako stepped forward and pressed a hand to the door. Right before entering he tilted his head straight back to look at Kravitz. “You're gonna wanna keep that rift open. We’re gonna be quick leaving.”

 

“What do you-” Taako was already inside before Kravitz could finish. 

 

The room was near silent. No commotion, no shouting, nothing but the weight of the people sitting there. The Dust was a place you go to drink yourself to death, nothing could act as a pick me up to these people. They didn’t look up at Taako, people blow in and out all the time, he was nothing new.

 

Taako walked with his head high, looking at every face he could get a glimpse of. In the left corner is where Taako found him, hooded, gripping a drink by a low candle light. He would have blended into the shadows if it weren’t for the gold of his ring, glinting in the candle light. Carved into the precious metal was Ravens Roosts’ crest.

 

A calm washed over Taako, he felt nothing but the weight on his heart and sword on his back. He approached with confidence. 

 

“Governor Callen?” 

 

Gray eyes looked up at Taako, one swoop of the eye up and down his person made him cackle. He was amused by Taako’s skirt and layers of jewelry, unaware of his strength.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“This is for Julia and Magnus.” Taako drew his sword and aimed for his heart. He could see the fear in Callen’s eye, he could see the anger. The look on his dead face was satisfying, he knew exactly why he had died. Taako’s first melee attack was made with such force it went through the wooden booth into the wall. He yanked it out with the same adrenaline as the attack. Callen slumped forward, head smacking onto the table. 

 

Taako turned away from him, placing the sword on his shoulder, blood still dripping from its blade. All eyes were on him now, with more silence than before. Taako raised an eyebrow. “Anyone else?” A beat of silence, no movement. “Yeah.”

 

He waltzed out of the bar with a slight skip in his step. 

 

Kravitz’s brow was furrowed, a mixture of worry and disappointment. 

 

“ _ Taako _ .”

 

“You can lecture me all you want, just get me back to the camp site.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked it leave a comment! I have one more Adventure Zone fic set in wonderland. I also have Yuri!!! On Ice, Voltron, Miraculous Ladybug, RWBY, Gravity Falls, Star Wars, and Kingsmen fics! Go read those if you're interested! Thank you so much!


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